


travelling distances letters can't

by nerdiests



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes
Genre: (technically) - Freeform, Gen, Triforce Heroes AU, for eli - merry chrysler, letter writing, me? wanting to have vio in triforce heroes? it's more likely than you'd think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22053994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdiests/pseuds/nerdiests
Summary: Red, Green, and Blue are off on another adventure.Vio's still at the castle, but that doesn't mean he can't talk with them.
Relationships: Red Link & Green Link & Blue Link & Vio Link, Red Link & Vio Link
Comments: 13
Kudos: 114





	travelling distances letters can't

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EliEnby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliEnby/gifts).



> merry christmas eli!!! ilysm!!! 
> 
> in other news, this is the _last_ fic of the decade y'all'll get from me, so yeehaw lads!! 
> 
> also yes i know that four swords and tfh are in two separate parts of the timeline but do i care? no. i do not. i do what i want.

Vio had known about Green, Blue, and Red’s adventure into one of the neighboring kingdoms following their battle with and subsequent defeat of Vaati. But he was tired. He didn’t want to go to a foreign kingdom, he wanted to stay at home and read all the books he could manage to in the castle’s library now that Zelda had given all four of them (even if he was the only one of them that really made use of it, aside from Red when he wanted to bake something) full access to anything and everything within the room. While the other three ventured into lands untold on this adventure of theirs, Vio was content to be snug as a bug in a rug in his quarters in the castle, reading book after book with a warm mug of hot cocoa for company. 

This particular day hadn’t been all that notable, Vio thought. He was just reading a particularly fascinating book on elemental magic that he’d found, when there was a knock at his door. Setting his book down and putting a bookmark in its pages, lest he forget where he left off, Vio walked over to the door. One of the palace guards held an envelope in his hands, passing it to Vio.

“The postman had this for you,” they said gruffly, before walking off. Vio opened his mouth and closed it. 

“Thank you,” he said, despite his thanks going unheard, before closing his door and sitting back down at his desk. The envelope the guard had handed him looked a bit dented, and there were stickers all over it. As he flipped it over, he remembered the promise Red had made to him before the start of his journey with their other two brothers. 

_ “I’ll write to you every week Vio! I don’t want you to feel forgotten or left out, so I’ll tell you all about our adventure!!” Red said, giving Vio a hug as he spoke. Vio went rigid for a few seconds, before relaxing into the hug.  _

_ “You don’t need to write every week, but I will write back, Red,” Vio replied as their hug ended. Red grinned and it was almost like looking at the sun with that grin. Blue reached over and grabbed Red’s arm.  _

_ “We’ve gotta get goin’ Red, or we’ll get off-schedule,” Blue said. Green stood a bit further away as Red pouted, before starting to walk off with Blue and Green towards the stables and their horses. Red waved as the trio walked down the road away from the castle’s courtyard, and Vio waved back. _

That had been just over three weeks ago, and when that first week after their estimated arrival had passed without a letter, Vio hadn’t thought much of it. But flipping over this letter, Vio saw the return address up in the corner. Red Minshi, Hytopia Castle, Hytopia. So Red and the others must have made it safely, then! Good news, good news. Carefully, Vio opened up the envelope and pulled out the letter, along with… Pictures? 

_ Dear Vio, _

_ Hi! Green, Blue and I just finished up with our first “Drablands” excursion and!! It was so exciting!! We got to go out into a forest and every time we finished a section, we’d go and head back to Hytopia and go to Madame Couture’s shop - she makes us all our clothes and they look so cool!  _

_ I don’t think Blue and Green are having as much fun as I am though, they’re acting more serious about it. I’ve been treating this like sort of a vacation, since we only really needed the three of us and you were able to stay home, but Blue and Green have been all no-fuss about everything. I get it, but shouldn’t we be able to have fun too?  _

_ While we were out in the Drablands as Hytopians have called it, I found all sorts of cool things! Like this one frog that I took a picture of and sent with this letter! It was blue, and I don’t know if you’ve seen a blue frog so I sent it just in case!! We’ve also been getting all these materials, and between Green, Blue and me we got the materials to get one of the Kokiri Outfits (it improves archery!) made, and I’ll be sending one with my next letter!! Madame Couture even made it in violet for you!!  _

_ I really hope you can write back soon Vio! I miss you!! :( _

_ Love, Red. _

Vio quirked an eyebrow, reaching for the stack of pictures. At the top was the promised picture of a blue frog that Red had found. The second was a selfie that Red had taken with Blue, who looked a bit reluctant to be there, but Red’s grin made up for Blue’s half-hearted smile. He was looking at something off-screen, probably Green. The next picture was blurry, presumably because the camera had been knocked out of Red’s hands. 

“Of course they’re getting up to shenanigans,” Vio muttered, continuing to flip through the small stack of pictures. Of the ones Red sent, Vio tacked up the picture of the frog and a group shot Red had managed to get, with all three of them grinning as Red held up a blue tektite shell triumphantly. Vio smiled at the sight when he first saw it, and put it up next to the picture of the frog. Maybe he should… He did tell Red he would write him back, hadn’t he?

_ Dear Red, _

_ There hasn’t been much going on in Castle Town, really. Zelda gave me full access to the royal library, so I’ve been reading all sorts of new things. Did you know that there’s over 3000 species of frogs and toads? I didn’t. And now we both do, and Green and Blue will if you tell them, which I suspect you will.  _

_ A forest? Was there a name for it? And “Drablands?” I know the Hytopians were reportedly extremely invested in fashion and “haute couture” but calling an area the “Drablands” seems a bit much, doesn’t it?  _

_ Thank you for thinking of me with the Kokiri outfit, Red. I really appreciate it. And all the pictures look wonderful, I’ve tacked up a few of them. I can try and make a scrapbook for the three of you if you’d like. I’m not sure what the quality will be, but I can try.  _

_ I apologize for the shortness of this letter, but there hasn’t been anything eventful going on. I can try and find something interesting, so I can write back about something.  _

_ I love you too, Red.  _

_ Sincerely, Vio. _

Setting down the pen, Vio stood up from his desk to go and find somewhere to grab envelopes, since he knew he didn’t have any in his own room. If he’d been back at the house, he’d know where they were, but. He was at the castle. Not the house. 

Vio ended up going all across the castle in search of his envelopes, asking around for where they might be. It was a long trek, and let Vio get in the exercise he’d been meaning to get for ages. But after a solid hour and a half of jogging all around the castle (and getting a bit more winded than he’d expected to get), he stumbled across exactly where he’d been looking to go, acquired his envelopes, and started the trek back to his room. Which took… Fifteen minutes. Now that had him peeved. But he shoved it off, put his letter in one of his acquisitions, and headed right back to the castle’s post office. 

Once the letter was sent off, Vio grinned despite himself. He was happy. His letter had been sent off, and he had. Nothing to do but read. He should change that. 

* * *

The next two months were spent with Vio and Red exchanging letters every week. Red would tell Vio all about his adventures with Blue and Green, and Vio would write back about whatever mundane thing he’d done during the week. Typically, he had some sort of interesting fact or an anecdote that he thought to be particularly interesting. The most noteworthy, in Vio’s opinion, was the time he went on for two and a half pages about his adventures in the kitchen. Surprisingly, that ended better than he thought. Vio came out knowing how to make a few new noodle dishes and had a new chocolate chip cookie recipe to try. Red told him that Green found the story amusing, and Blue wanted Vio to make him the cookies sometime as proof that he could actually do it. Vio had laughed at that one.

His favorite letter by far, though, was the one that came with a package. At the end of that first month (Red had apologized for not getting the outfit he’d promised by that second week), along with his letter, a package had arrived. It was bulkier than he imagined. When he opened the package, he found out why. Reaching for the letter blindly, Vio carefully opened it, his eyes not leaving the box.

_ Hi Vio! _

_ So knowing you, you’re probably looking at the box really confused right now, yeah? Well! The Kokiri Clothes came out fine, but we weren’t expecting Madame Couture to need to get a bow made as well. None of us have the Kokiri Clothes ourselves, so we didn’t know that there’s a special bow that comes with it. Well, at least you’ve got a new bow to test out! _

_ Madame Couture told me she left a note in there explaining both how the Kokiri Clothes and the bow work in the package. I know you’re gonna go and test how it all works, and it’ll be super fun!! Gosh, I wish you were on our adventure with us, though. I miss you. :( _

_ In other news!! We finished up the Water Temple this week, and we’re moving on to the Fire Temple next week. We’re taking a break right now, though. Green’s thinking of going back and trying to get the Aqua Crown for the Torrent Robe, though I know Blue’s been getting anxious to go to the Ice Caverns and the Temple, since he can get the material for the Hammerwear. But that’s not until after we finish the Fire Temple, which is next. I’m just happy that I finally got the Cheer Outfit!  _

_ We’re thinking we’ll be done with this in no time at all!! It’s been a month and we’re already done with the first two areas!! We’ll be back before you know it, Vio!  _

_ Love, Red. _

With near reckless abandon, Vio tore out the Kokiri Clothes and the bow that sat atop them. He hadn’t seen anything like it before, and he examined it with care. Peering back into the box, Vio spotted a note sitting at the bottom of it. Curiously, he picked it up and squinted at the ornate cursive for a moment. 

_ The Kokiri Clothing allows for any bow that the wearer holds to produce thrice as many arrows, while the accompanying bow allows the wielder to load arrows at a faster pace.  _

_ \- Madame Couture _

Raising an eyebrow, Vio set the note aside and reached for the envelope holding the pictures Red had sent. Vio was curious about the Cheer Outfit he had mentioned. So with a curious eye, Vio pulled out the stack of pictures and almost started laughing at the top one. A  _ very _ displeased Blue was the center of the camera, wearing a Zora Outfit. Green was also in-frame behind Blue, clad in the Big Bomb Outfit and laughing his ass off. Blue looked like a disgruntled cat, and Vio immediately tacked that one up on the wall. He also tacked up the one with Red doing a cute pose in the Cheer Outfit up on his wall. He’d need a copy of that one for the scrapbook pile he was making. 

With the pictures sorted, it was time for Vio to suit up and go test out the bow. And the Kokiri Clothes. He knew that everyone in the castle were giving him odd looks as he walked through the halls clad in a purple pointy-hatted outfit and a new bow on his back, a quiver strapped next to it. No one stopped him, but they all looked at him funnily. 

The archery range was empty when Vio arrived, and that’s how he liked it. He could focus on doing what he wanted to, and that was test out this bow. Moving over to his favored target for practicing, Vio lifted up the bow and nocked an arrow - a lot faster than he was used to, he might add - before letting the arrow fly and! As soon as the nock left the bowstring, the arrow split into three, with the two other arrows going at slight angles from the middle. Vio couldn’t place what angle the arrows were moving at, but it looked like it was roughly about fifteen degrees or so. In his opinion, it’d be pretty useful for any sort of skirmish where you’d have to hit multiple targets. And Red had said that  _ none _ of them had this? Hm. He had a bit of thinking to do. Heading back to his quarters, Vio started writing his letter to Red and began plotting ideas for the next month. 

* * *

Red was worried. Vio had never sent his response to his letter, since he tended to get the responses from Vio about a week and a half after he sent off his letters. He hadn’t gotten a letter, it had been two weeks, and Red was fretting about it. Hoping that nothing was wrong. 

“There  _ isn’t _ anything wrong, Red. The postman’s just late,” Blue said, standing a bit further down the road from Red. Green stood next to him and glared at Blue, before walking up to Red and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I know you wanted to read your letter from Vio before we headed back into the Drablands for the Lady’s Fortress, but we have to go soon,” Green said. Red pouted, looking back at the entrance to Hytopia again. The postman was late, and he was worried. Something could’ve happened!

“But the postman is late! He was supposed to get here half an hour ago, what if something happened?” Red asked worriedly. He wasn’t a catastrophizer, as Vio said, or a pessimist as Green said, but he feared the worst! 

“Stop being all pessimistic! We need to  _ go _ , Red!” Blue exclaimed, throwing up his hands in a huff. Green turned around and gave Blue another glare. 

“You’re rushing him, Blue,” Green said, before turning back to Red and turning Red to look at him. 

“We can wait half an hour, but that’s all we can wait. Blue’ll throw a hissy fit if we have to wait any longer than that,” Green continued. Blue shouted a protest from where he stood a short ways away.

“That only proves my point, Blue,” Green chuckled, and Red laughed a bit. 

“Okay. We’ll leave in half an hour,” Red said. He could hear Blue’s sigh from a mile away. Red turned away from Green and started to look at Blue when there was a whinny at the Drablands gates. Red perked up and whipped towards the gate. He was expecting to see the postman and his two horses, Nugget and Beamer. He was  _ not _ expecting to see Vio astride Cloud IV. 

“ _ Vio? _ ” Red asked, confused. With a grin, Vio waved across the square as he hopped off Cloud IV’s back and led her over to the confused other three heroes. 

“Hey.” 

It was quiet for a few seconds, before Red smacked him on the arm lightly. 

“Vio, you jerk! You should’ve sent a letter ahead saying you were coming, I got worried!” Red said. Vio reached up to rub at his arm, frowning a bit.

“I thought you’d appreciate the surprise. I’ve been planning this for a month, since I got the package with the Kokiri Outfit. Speaking of, that’s sitting in my pack, and I haven’t used a different bow since you sent it to me, Red,” Vio said, barely remembering to breathe as he spoke. 

“Slow down there, Vio,” Green said, putting his hands in front of him in a universal “slow down” motion. Vio took a breath and looked over at Green, glanced at Blue, before turning back to Red.

“I’m sorry, Red,” Vio said, a lot slower than previously. Red gave Vio a Look for a few seconds, before giving in and giving him a huge hug.

“I missed you so  _ much!  _ I know it’s only been two and a half months, but it feels like it’s been an eternity!!” Red exclaimed, throwing his arms around Vio. For a moment, Vio froze like a deer in the lantern’s light. Then he relaxed into the hug, wrapping his arms around Red in return. 

“Why’d you decide to come anyways? You said you’d rather stay home when we first talked about it,” Blue spoke up, walking towards the trio next to the post office. Red let go of Vio, and the two turned towards Blue as he came to a stop.

“Red said you guys didn’t have a proper archer, so I decided I’d fix that,” Vio replied. Green raised an eyebrow, and Vio’s cheeks reddened as he looked down at his feet.

“That can’t be the only reason,” Green said. Red gave Green a glance, and Green gave a minute shake of his head. 

“...I missed you guys. I’ve been staying at the castle because it feels less lonely than our house but all I did was hole up in my room and read all the time. I didn’t want to feel lonely, and I still felt lonely even in a place where there were so many people around me. So when Red mentioned you didn’t have an archer, I made plans to come. And now I’m here and I won’t be lonely,” Vio said, not looking up from his feet as he twiddled his thumbs. 

“I’m s-” Before Vio could continue his thought, Red tackled him. Vio made a noise, but as the two fell to the grass, Red wrapped his arms around Vio. 

“You could’ve just  _ told _ us, Vio! You don’t need to hide things from us!” Red said, looking Vio in the eyes. Vio looked away only to lock eyes with Green, who had sat down next to the two on the ground. 

“We’re a team, Vio. We work together, which means we tell each other these sorts of things,” Green said. Yet again, Vio looked away from someone only to lock eyes with someone else. Blue bent down and ruffled Vio’s hair, before sitting on Red and Vio’s other side.

“Yeah, you’ve gotta talk about your issues. We already didn’t do enough of that during our adventure, we’ve gotta get better at communicating,” Blue said. Vio looked down at Red, who was still holding him tight. 

“...Alright.” 

For a while, the quartet stayed, just all in the grass with Cloud IV grazing nearby. Eventually, though, Red jolted up.

“Oh my goodness, we need to get you a room set up! We’ve only got three beds, we need another one!! And then we can take you to the Captain and we can head out to the Drablands, oh goodness we need to go!” Red rushed out, and Vio chuckled as Red shot up and helped him get up.

“Oh  _ now _ you want to get moving in a hurry,” Blue muttered, picking himself up off the ground and offering Green a helping hand. 

“Let’s get moving then, Red,” Vio said, letting himself be dragged off to wherever his other brothers were staying. Here Vio was. With his family. He wasn’t going to be lonely any longer. Red, Blue, and Green would all make sure of that. 

**Author's Note:**

> hi hello i have a [tumblr](https://nerdiests.tumblr.com/) my dudes!! feel free to check it out if you'd like!! :D


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